The invention relates to floor mats such as those used in the passenger compartments of automobiles, and in particular to means for retaining such mat in place. The invention also relates to a process for making the mat.
Floor mats of the type found in automobiles generally are made of an elastomeric material or of a carpeted material or a combination of both. There is, however, a tendency of these mats to move or shift due to the action of the driver's or passenger's feet on the mat, particularly when getting in and out of the car. This results in the general disarray of the mats and can result in a potential danger if the mat is moved so as to interfere with the accelerator, brake pedal or clutch pedal of the automobile.
Various prior art efforts have been made to prevent slippage (i.e., "anti-slippage means") by use of permanent retention means such as hooks, snap fasteners, Velcro.RTM. strips and the like. However, none of these are commercially successful because they tend to distract from aesthetics of the mat. Another solution is to use an array of downwardly extending projections or "nubs" to reduce slippage such as proposed, for example in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,174,991 to Reuben. An alternative solution is to use a tacky adhesive on the undersurface of the mat such as proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,609,580 to Rockett et al. A combination of nubs and tacky adhesive has also been proposed in commonly assigned U.S. Ser. No. 07/642,926 filed Jan. 18, 1991.
The existing anti-slippage means have advantages and disadvantages. Mats equipped with downwardly projecting nubs and similar elements function best when the automobile flooring includes a face layer of carpeting which the nubs can readily penetrate. Nub-type anti-slippage means function less well when the automobile flooring consists of or includes hard carpeting or other material (e.g., plastic or rubber) which the nubs cannot readily penetrate. On the other hand, mats employing tacky adhesive material as the anti-slippage means function best when the automobile floor covering overlaid thereby consists of material which is clean, dry and hard. The tacky adhesive material means function less well when wet, and when the automobile floor covering has at its upper surface, dirt or fibrous material that can potentially transfer to the tacky adhesive. Such transfer can eventually render the tacky adhesive material incapable of performing its intended function. The difficulty of deciding whether to use nubs or tacky adhesive material as the anti-slippage means for an automobile floor mat is particularly acute when the mat is to be marketed as a "generic" one suitable for use in automobiles that are of different makes and/or that have different types of floor coverings.